New Pods Make Jail Visits Safer

Visitation at the Wayne County jail has changed, and Sheriff Tom Maurer says it is resulting in a safer atmosphere, both for the inmates and visitors.

No longer are visitors being taken into the jail and up to the gymnasium where they could have personal contact with prisoners.

Instead, prisoners are now brought downstairs to a room that used to house pop and candy machines, but now is a 12-pod visitation room. Visitors can now speak with prisoners over a phone system, and can see them though five layers of 9/16 inch thick glass.

While the elimination of personal contact could be seen by inmates as a large loss, they can now visit for longer periods of time, and no longer face the possibility of a visitation being cut short or cancelled.

"It's all about a sense of liability and responsibility for the sheriff's office and the county," Maurer said. "There will be no danger of assault and this eliminates the possibility of any contraband, cigarettes or drugs, being smuggled into the jail."

The cost of the project was $14,960, and was paid for by the inmates when they purchased items through the commissary.

"Those monies can be used for prisoners' benefit," Maurer said. "For added safety and longer visitation, we felt this was appropriate."

While there never were any major incidents under the previous visitation policy, a number of smaller incidents prompted the sheriff's office to look into preventing those in the future, Maurer said.

"We wanted to stop a major incident from happening," he said. "This is strictly to keep jail personnel and prisoners safe."

The pods were approved by the Ohio Bureau of Adult Detention, which has final say over any alterations made to jails and prisons in the state, Maurer said.

Under the new system, visitors sign in at the receptionist desk in the lobby of the Justice Center as they always have done. They are then taken back to the visitation area, and lined up.

The prisoners are brought down from their cells and taken into the small, square, white room. Visitors then gather around the rooms outer walls and windows, and can talk to the prisoner through the phones.

Before, visitors had to be taken up and down elevators, while prisoners had to be escorted to and from the gymnasium. With the new flow, less time is needed for moving prisoners and visitors through the jail, and this has resulted in increased visitation time.

Another benefit, Maurer said, is the that sheriff's reserves have to be called in to work visitation less.

"For 20-plus years, the reserves have been a tremendous asset in handling the large numbers of visitors Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoons," he said. "This group helped with the design and flow.

"The pods have also reduced manpower needs for visitation purposes. We are reassigning more of the reserves to law enforcement."

The reserves also purchased a video system that is used for felon visitations. In those instances, visitors sit at the window, and look at a television screen. On top of the television is a small camera. Through the television, both the visitor and prisoner can see each other. They can communicate over the phone system.

"It eliminates any movement of felons outside their area," Maurer said, "as we are housing more and more serious offenders in our county jail."

Last year, 3,382 people visited inmates on Sunday at the Wayne County Jail. An additional 780 visited via special visits Wednesday evenings.